Dams and Development in China: The Moral Economy of Water and Power by Bryan Tilt (review)

China, which has been the world’s top energy user since 2011 and the top emitter of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) since 2008,¹ relies heavily on fossil fuels to satisfy its energy needs. In 2013, electricity was generated from fossil fuels (77 percent), renewable sources (21 percent), and nuclear power (2 percent).² In the interest of increasing energy efficiency and clean energy use, China’s Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) calls for carbon dioxide emissions per unit gross domestic product (GDP) to be lowered 18 percent and energy consumption per unit GDP, 15 percent, by 2020. The plan also sets a target that non–fossil fuels are to meet 15 percent of total energy needs.³

The primary renewable energy source in China is hydroelectric, which accounted for about 18 percent of the country’s total net electricity generation in 2013. China leads the world in hydropower production and new dam construction.⁴ Although dams provide benefits such as power generation and flood control, they also impact ecosystems and displace residents. For example, the construction of the well-known Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project, along the Yangtze River forced more than one million people from their homes.⁵

In Dams and Development in China: The Moral Economy of Water and Power, Bryan Tilt examines water-management decisions and their consequences in the southwestern province of Yunnan. The author is an associate professor of anthropology at Oregon State University. Tilt relied on several methods to carry out the research for this book: collaboration with other scientists to conduct surveys of rural villagers; interviewing experts on the environmental and social dimensions of hydropower; and reviewing documents such as environmental impact assessments, corporate publications, and government agency reports.

In the first chapter, Tilt introduces Yunnan’s Three Parallel Rivers region. He lists his research questions (pp. 5–6):

• • What are the values and goals of key constituent groups in water-resource management in China, including government agencies, hydropower corporations, conservation organizations, and local communities?

• • What strategies do these groups use to participate in the decision-making process and steer it toward the outcomes they deem desirable?

• • How do communities uprooted by dam construction and resettlement cope with the dramatic social, cultural, and economic changes they face?

• • How do those in positions of official power balance the social and ecological costs of hydropower development against other imperatives such as energy security and integrated river-basin management?

Next he explains the concepts of state making and moral economy. Quoting E. P. Thompson,⁶ moral economy is “popular consensus . . . grounded upon a consistent traditional view of social norms and obligations, of the proper economic functions of several parties within the community.” The chapter also describes his research methods and provides an overview of the book. Chapter 2 explains China’s rising energy demands, water management decisions, and hydropower institutions. The production of electrical power is the responsibility of five state-owned corporations dubbed the “Five Energy Giants.”

The next two chapters are case studies of the Lancang and Nu River basins, respectively. At the time of writing, four dams had been completed in the Lancang basin and thirteen dams had been proposed in the Nu basin. Tilt examines how the Lancang dams have affected residents’ economic livelihood, social networks, and attitudes, by using a cross-sectional approach: comparing resettled households with demographically similar non-resettled households. Some resettled households changed their farming practices and others participated in off-farm wage labor. Resettled villagers also reported higher levels of happiness and community satisfaction, a finding that surprised Tilt. He suspects that these communities “have found ways to adapt by bonding together and relying upon one another’s support” (p. 76). Later he adds, “In my experience, many villagers felt a sense of ambivalence toward the Lancang dam projects, recognizing elements...